Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is confident that striker Harry Kane’s fine run of form will continue into next season, despite the rapid rise in expectation that comes with his appearances for both club and country.
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The Argentine has predicted that the 21-year-old is bound for greatness over the coming years, and even compared his star man with the likes of Wayne Rooney and Gabriel Batistuta.
Kane has scored 35 goals so far this season, including 29 in all competitions for his club side. He’s netted five for the Three Lions youth team, and also struck on his debut for Roy Hodgson’s first team last Friday.
It’s been a remarkable rise for Kane, who wasn’t even a regular starter for Pochettino until November. As the Daily Mirror reports, this has led to several critics reserving judgement on the former Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester loanee, who only scored his first Premier League goal in April 2014.
However, Pochettino has no such doubts. He told reporters on Thursday: “Big players always have a good first season – like [Wayne] Rooney. After his first season, a lot of people maybe had doubts about the next one but this is football.
“People have doubts, this is what it is like. He [Kane] is a reality. There may be people who doubt him about next season but the people that know him understand, like us, that Harry can keep the level he has shown. He has skills that are similar to different players, including Batistuta.
“Harry Kane has shown his qualities over four or five months, scoring a lot of goals in the Europa League and different cups, but Harry Kane is a reality now, there is no doubt that he has arrived and he can keep up the level.
“It is not easy when a player stops scoring, this is our challenge but not only with Harry, with all players. You need to wait for the right moment to give a player the responsibility because sometimes we can see a player is ready but not quite complete to assume the responsibility and keep the same level.
“Now it is up to him. He knows the way to improve his ability. He is in a very good moment to keep working hard and develop his game.”